Under the Kambaranka tree

by Rajendra Peeris

At Gurendawatte in the lawn of grandma’s residence, there was a huge Kambaranka fruit tree. Boys returning from school used to pelt stones at it to pluck fruits. She detested the boys’ approach and little Jith too was prohibited from picking up fallen ripe fruit on the ground.

Yvonne de Jong then a 16 year-old girl, a school mate of grandma’s two daughters Lilaila and Beeta, used to spend the day at the residence. Grandma did not mind Yvonne tasting the luscious fruit provided the brat Jith was kept away. Grandma and her daughters were little away from the tree, Jith pleaded with Yvonne for a fruit to taste.

Story

“Yvonne Akki, can you please let me have a Kambaranka fruit?”
“I can’t just give, you should relate a story”.
“Alright Akki, I’ll relate the story of Blue Beard”.
“That isn’t enough, narrate another one”
Jith came out with ‘The Beauty and the Beast’.

“That’s not enough; you had better come out with one or two nursery rhymes.”

The brat was getting annoyed. But Yvonne was not the type of girl to part with a bite of the fruit. She greedily munched every portion of it in front of the boy’s very eyes.

All of a sudden a gust of wind swept across raising the skirt of the damsel. She wanted to cling on to it by dropping a couple of fruits. The brat was quick to pick one and ran to the old veranda. She could not do anything further; her teasing of the boy came to an end.

Years passed by and Yvonne did not step into her friend’s place anymore.

Six and half-decades happened to pass by. Jith was an old man carrying a thick curved walking stick for a stroll. One fine evening he spotted an old lady with a black German Sheppard, one end of a chain tied onto a leather belt right round its neck. The lady was talking to her dog:

“Tota, for God’s sake don’t nibble that bone. How many times do I have to tell you?”
The dog immediately responded to her command.

Stranger

Jith came closer to the lady with the dog.

“Madam, are you having a conversation with your doggy?”

Suddenly she turned round and cast a glance from top to toe at the inquisitive stranger.

“Madam Yvonne, can you make me out?”

A smile rose to her lips: “My goodness gracious, Jith that old brat! Every day I tried my level best to forget you, but I couldn’t.”

“By the way I forget your surname.”

“I am Yvonne Spenser nee de Jong. My hubby Alfred died ten years ago.” She heaved a sigh. “We were not blessed with a child”.

Jith said: “Madam, you were lucky at least you had a spouse”.

She made her eyes wide open: Weren’t you married?”“No, I am an old bachelor. In fact my old girl friend gave me the boot after a long standing affair. To cut a long story short, she used to tease me all the time”.

A smile rose to her lips” “ You old brat, weren’t you being teased by that greedy girl who ate the kambaranka fruit?

“Precisely madam” Jith endorsed it with a loud laugh.

Teased

Jith happened to continue further: “My old girl Bubsy not only teased me but even my pet Ammu, a female doggy I adored very much. In my lawn when seated on a bench, Bubsy used to eat cheese with biscuits all alone. She did not bother to give Ammu a piece of biscuit that she was eagerly waiting for. Bubsy teased Ammu and she used to bark at her non-stop all the time. Bubsy insisted that I should get rid of Ammu and I did not bother to respond.”

Just then Yvonne asked:” what did you give Ammu to please her?”

“Well, I ate papaw most of the time and Ammu was by my side to relish the papaw skin”.

“How did she appreciate it?”
“She having consumed the papaw skin used to rest her head on my feet to caress.”
“What made Bubsy to leave you?”

“One fine day Bubsy stealthily crept into my room, Ammu barked at her and tried to chase her away. Bubsy picked up a broom stick to assault Ammu and I pushed Bubsy to a side.Just then Ammu hugged me perhaps to save me from a possible assault and licked my cheek.”

“Thereafter what happened?”

“She abused me in unparliamentary language and made a pronouncement: “This bitch is your ever loving wife...”

“I felt it was quite uncalled for and asked her to shut her foul mouth. Soon she picked up her hand bag and left the house saying ‘I shall never step into this canine den.’ She kept her word.”Yvonne kept silent for one or two minutes and posed this question: ‘Jith, is your doggy a pure bred one like Tota, it’s of course a German Sheppard?”

“No madam, she was a native one, a loving creature and I shared my bread and butter with her. I did not ever try to tease her. By the way do you ever share your bread and butter with Tota?”

“Surely, why should I share my delicacies with a dog? The dog has its own food. Is your Ammu still with you?”

“No madam, she died twelve years ago” Jith heaved a deep sigh.
“Jith, you didn’t mention your vocation. Are you a pensioner, stage player, lyricist or composer, in which of these?”

“I am a lawyer.”

She raised her eye-brows and slowly whispered to herself: ‘a lawyer, at least did not bother to raise a decent cross-bred dog...’

“May I know what you muttered just now?”
“No, I told Tota: ‘Let’s get back home. It’s getting dark.’”

Jith did not budge an inch. The lady with the dog disappeared into dusky thick mist.